Actions

Australia is sweltering through record-breaking heat. And the worst is yet to come

Posted: 5:09 PM, Jan 31, 2019

Updated:2019-01-31 20:09:00-05

By:
CNN Newsource

Farmer Wayne Dunford was already feeling worn down. He'd battled through 18 months of some of the worst drought he'd seen in his half a century on the land.

Then the heat struck.

Dunford has been feeding livestock by hand on his New South Wales property for 12 months due to the lack of ground growth and is now worried about whether he'll be able to plant crops at all after extreme heat and wind completely dried out his fields.

"You turn around and you can't see across the paddock for the dirt blowing across it, that wears people pretty thin. And then there's the heat on top of that," he told CNN.

As the United States suffers from a record freeze, with temperatures plummeting below minus 32 degrees Celsius (minus 27 Fahrenheit), Australia is sweltering through an extreme heatwave.

Week after week, temperatures have continued to rise with all of the country's eight states and territories affected. Across the country, roads have melted, infrastructure has failed and both animals and fish have died en masse.

The southern city of Adelaide experienced its hottest day on record on January 24, reaching 46.6 C
(116 F). On Friday, Australia's Bureau of Meteorology announced it had been the country's hottest January on record, describing the weather as "unprecedented."

In temperatures above 40 C (104 F) the human body begins to experience heat exhaustion. Once the temperature exceeds 41 C (105 F), the body starts to shut down. Health warnings have been issued throughout Australia advising people to stay indoors during the hottest part of the day, minimize physical activity and keep hydrated.

But while the current heat continues to cause problems for ordinary Australians, scientists are warning it could only be the beginning of the country's problems with extreme weather if no action is taken to prevent climate change.

Michael Grose, senior research scientist from CSIRO's Climate Science Center, told CNN that by 2100 Australia could face up to 22 days per year over 40 C (104 F) in a worst-case scenario.

"Even under a very low emission scenario we're expecting to see an increase in those record hot days," he said.

The sunburnt country

In a video which went viral across Australia in January, two farmers make an emotional appeal for help standing beside the massive Darling River in New South Wales.

They're holding two large dead fish, killed when temperatures soared at the beginning of the month -- just one of three mass fish kills which have left thousands of them decomposing on the surface of the water.

Another local, Graeme McCrabb, described to CNN the "horrific" sight which greeted him when he strolled down to the river one day. "The fish were still dying, lots of small ones bouncing along the surface of the water," he said.

"No animals should suffer like this. We have to stop the devastating impacts of climate change becoming normal," Greenpeace Australia
said in statement Tuesday.

Authorities and infrastructure have been struggling to keep up with the extreme weather's disastrous side effects. Dozens of bushfires broke out across the southern state of Tasmania, destroying homes and wilderness
as hundreds of firefighters sought to get the blazes under control.

Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman on Wednesday warned conditions would "worsen".

Facing pressure from Australians desperate to escape the heat, the country's power grid even began to buckle. Hundreds of thousands of homes were sporadically left without power
in Victoria and South Australia amid surging demand as residents turned up air conditioners and fans.Facing pressure from Australians desperate to escape the heat, the country's power grid even began to buckle. Hundreds of thousands of homes were sporadically left without power
in Victoria and South Australia amid surging demand as residents turned up air conditioners and fans.'Not doing enough'

Amid the heatwave, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released a scathing review of Australia's environmental policies.

Calling on the Australian government to better protect the country's "rich biodiversity" and reduce its unusually high dependence on fossil fuels, the report said Australia was on track to miss the emission targets it agreed to under the Paris Agreement.

"The country will fall short of its 2030 emissions target without a major effort to move to a low-carbon model," the OECD said.

Shorten is likely to become Australia's next prime minister within months, with an election due before May and the Morrison government perpetually unpopular. Labor has pledged to take greater action on climate change.

Grose said if more action wasn't taken soon, the heatwaves would likely come more frequently -- and the impact on Australia's people, economy and biodiversity could be severe.

"I think (climate change) needs to be taken extremely seriously and in some senses the world is starting to take it very seriously," he said.

But NSW farmer Dunford remains confident their luck will turn around eventually and the drought will break, saying there has been extreme weather all through Australia's history.

"It could all turn around in three weeks time, it could be quite wet and away we go," he told CNN.

"We've always been a dry nation ... when you come up here if it rains, it's a bonus."

Copyright 2019 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.